Discipline numbers in the York City School District dropped drastically between 2010-11 and 2011-12, though the administration and teachers' union disagree as to why.

Supt. Deborah Wortham has touted declining discipline referrals as proof the district's culture has improved. But the city teachers' union president said at a recent school board meeting that students aren't being disciplined when they should.

Wortham said that for 2010-11, there were 16,766 disciplinary referrals, and that for 2011-12 the number was down to 9,261.

A report attached to the November school board agenda shows discipline totals -- including internal and external suspensions, expulsions and detentions -- dropped from about 13,000 districtwide in 2010-11 to almost 8,000 in 2011-12.

At William Penn, detentions dropped from 814 to 2 and external suspensions from 2,980 to 1,559, according to that report. At Hannah Penn Middle School, which is now closed, discipline numbers dropped from about 3,800 to about 2,200.

Not all numbers decreased; at a few city elementary schools, the numbers went up.

Wortham said that between 2010-11 and 2011-12 there was no change in how discipline is handled.

"We focused on student achievement. We focused on figuring out what to do for kids to make them successful," she said.

Kim Schwarz, president of the city teachers' union and a fifth-grade teacher, said at the recent board meeting that a small number of students make it difficult for teachers to provide the best opportunities for all students.

"These misbehaviors need to have appropriate consequences," she said. "However with our building-level administrators' evaluations tied to the number of disciplinary referrals, it is no surprise that many of these offenses are not addressed or have no appropriate consequences assigned."

Later at the same meeting, Wortham responded that principals are not evaluated based on the number of discipline referrals, and asked Principal Debbie Hummel, who was in the audience, to confirm that.

"I will confirm," said Hummel, who will retire as principal of Goode Elementary School in January. She said that principals do a lot of background work with children outside the classroom.

Digital connection: Angie Mason

·Facebook: On her reporter's Facebook page, ask questions or comment on posts, get live coverage from classrooms and more.

·Twitter: Live coverage of meetings and other events, links on education topics and more.

·Cram Session blog: School news -- including some exclusive to the blog -- posts about education issues, classroom videos and more.

"We are cognizant of our number of suspensions," she said, because if children are suspended, they're outside the classroom and they can't be educated.

But if students are hurting other kids or being totally disruptive, "they get suspended." It is a balancing act, she said.

Wortham said later in an interview that while the principals are not evaluated on the number of suspensions, "of course we look at data."

They look at discipline numbers like they look at truancy or attendance, she said.

"If you can measure it, we look at it. We analyze it," she said.

Schwarz said later that she stands by what she said during the board meeting.

There are discipline issues, she said, and they're made worse when kids know nothing will happen to them.

It's hard to educate students when others are misbehaving with no consequences, she said. Incidents happen, frequently, she said.

Wortham said the district has seen a change in culture and there's been a focus on teaching and learning. The discipline numbers are just the outcome.

"When you focus on educating the whole child, the research says you will see a decrease in discipline and an increase in student achievement," Wortham said.

The superintendent has also pointed to academic progress, such as two schools making required progress targets on state reading and math exams in 2012 and others showing improvement. At a recent event held to celebrate district success, she touted those points as well as a decreased dropout rate and a drop in discipline referrals at William Penn High School.

The state releases school safety reports that include numbers, reported by districts, on various discipline infractions from bullying to fighting and assaults.

For the city district, the reports show total incidents reported dropping by 20 from 2010-11 to 2011-12. The report shows "minor incidents" dropping from 208 to 18, but "fighting" increasing from 290 to 338. The "simple assault on student" category increased, too, from 257 to 442.

But it can be difficult to determine what shows up in those reports or how incidents are categorized. For example, the 2010-11 report lists one bomb threat in the city district, but in November 2010, Mike Muldrow, the school's safety and security director, told the school board there had been 11 bomb threats at the high school.

School board President Margie Orr said that from conversations with Wortham, she understands office referrals are down and attendance is good.

Orr said she's "at a loss" to explain the different points of view on the discipline issue. She's not sure where the teachers union's concern is coming from, she said.

"I'm sure they'll get together and get things resolved," she said.

She's done walk-throughs at the schools and things seemed fine, she said, though she's not there every day.

She knows there are children who can be unruly -- that's a given. The district doesn't want to send kids home, because they need to be in class. But sometimes the district has to act.

Orr believes parents need to take a role in addressing the issue, too.

"It's just not up to the schools," she said.

By the numbers

Here's a sampling of discipline totals from a report attached to the Nov. 26 school board agenda:

Districtwide:

2010-11 -- 13,074

2011-12 -- 7,919

William Penn Senior High School:

2010-11 -- 814 detentions, 2,980 external suspensions

2011-12 -- 2 detentions, 1,559 external suspensions

Smith Middle School:

2010-11 -- 1,211 detentions, 787 external suspensions

2011-12 -- 27 detentions, 420 external suspensions

Hannah Penn Middle School:

2010-11 -- 1,669 detentions, 1,613 external suspensions

2011-12 -- 256 detentions, 1,184 external suspensions

Districtwide, the numbers for 2012-13 appear to be on track to be lower. The district closed two middle schools and moved grades 5 to 8 back to elementary schools this year, so direct comparisons can't be made for the elementary numbers in the report.